Earth mover which continuously excavates a trench and simultaneously clears the excavated trench of spoils

ABSTRACT

An earth mover for continuously excavating a trench and simultaneously clearing the excavated trench of spoils and depositing the spoils alongside the excavated trench. The earth mover including a cutter supported by a chassis in a rotatably drivable fashion about a cutter axis of rotation that is fixed relative to the chassis. A stripping blade having a stripping edge is disposed at a following position relative to the cutter and includes transport surface contiguous with a spoils collector. A spoils transfer assembly removes spoils from the spoils collector and deposits them alongside the excavated trench as the earth mover is propelled along a trenching path. Further included is a wheel support assembly secured to the chassis and including a pair of laterally spaced wheels providing ground support to the chassis. The wheels are rotatable about an axis relative to the chassis to position the chassis between ground engaging and transport positions.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to trench excavating and moreparticularly, to an earth mover which continuously excavates a trenchand simultaneously clears the excavated trench of spoils and depositsthe spoils alongside the excavated trench.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

In pipeline operations where a pipeline is buried below the groundsurface it is necessary to form a trench in the ground either during theprocess of laying the pipeline or to acquire access to a buried pipelinefor service. In either of these instances, during trenching, the topsoil must be removed from the underlying soil layers and storedseparately to prevent contamination of the top soil. Further, it isdesirable to form such a trench with low impact soil disturbance tominimize the amount of top soil that is stripped, and thus reduce theenvironmental impact caused by forming the trench.

Accordingly, an earth mover of an improved construction allowing forcontrolled depth trench excavation for stripping and separating top soilfrom underlying soil layers is desired.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The preferred embodiments of the present invention addresses this needby providing an earth mover which continuously excavates a trench andsimultaneously clears the excavated trench of spoils and deposits thespoils alongside the excavated trench with low impact soil disturbanceis provided.

To achieve these and other advantages, in general, in one aspect, anearth mover is provided. The earth mover includes a chassis supportedfor transport across a ground surface in a travel direction in either aground engaging position and a non-ground engaging position. The chassisis positioned in the ground engaging position during a trenchingprocess. A cutter configured to form a rectilinear trench is supportedby the chassis in a rotatably drivable fashion about a cutter axis ofrotation that is fixed relative to the chassis. The earth mover furtherincludes a spoils collector and a stripping blade having a strippingedge disposed at a following position relative to the cutter and havinga transport surface contiguous with the spoils collector, wherein spoilscut by the cutter during the trenching process are transported along thetransport surface and into the spoils collector. A spoils transferassembly is supported by the chassis and includes a conveyor configuredto remove spoils received in the spoils collector and to deposit theremoved spoils along the side of a trench formed during the trenchingprocess.

There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more importantfeatures of the invention in order that the detailed description thereofthat follows may be better understood and in order that the presentcontribution to the art may be better appreciated.

Numerous objects, features and advantages of the present invention willbe readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon a readingof the following detailed description of presently preferred, butnonetheless illustrative, embodiments of the present invention whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The invention iscapable of other embodiments and of being practiced and carried out invarious ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology andterminology employed herein are for the purpose of descriptions andshould not be regarded as limiting.

As such, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the conception,upon which this disclosure is based, may readily be utilized as a basisfor the designing of other structures, methods and systems for carryingout the several purposes of the present invention. It is important,therefore, that the claims be regarded as including such equivalentconstructions insofar as they do not depart from the spirit and scope ofthe present invention.

For a better understanding of the invention, its operating advantagesand the specific objects attained by its uses, reference should be hadto the accompanying drawings and descriptive matter in which there areillustrated preferred embodiments of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide furtherunderstanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute apart of this specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of theinvention and together with the description serve to explain theprinciples of the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side elevation of the earth mover, constructed in accordancewith the principles of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the earth mover attached to a vehicle;

FIG. 3 is a front elevation view of the earth mover in the non-groundengaging position;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the earth mover, illustrating thecylindrical drum, stripping blade, and stripping edge;

FIG. 5 is a bottom plan view of the earth mover, illustrating theadjustable length of the stripping edge;

FIG. 6 is a side elevation view of the earth mover, illustrating theearth mover from the opposite side of FIG. 1, with the side surfacesremoved, in operation; and

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the earth mover in operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

As a preliminary matter, it should be noted that in this document(including the claims) directional terms, such as “above”, “below”,“upper”, “lower”, “forward”, “behind”, etc., are used for convenience inreferring to the accompanying drawings. Additionally, it is to beunderstood that the various embodiments of the present inventiondescribed herein may be utilized in various orientations, such asinclined, inverted, horizontal, vertical, etc., without departing fromthe principles of the present invention.

In FIGS. 1-3, there is representatively illustrated an earth mover 10for continuously excavating a trench at a controlled depth to separateearth layers, for example, a top soil layer from underlying clay, andsimultaneously clearing the top soil from the excavated trench anddepositing the top soil alongside the excavated trench in a windrow 76.The earth mover 10 is particularly useful in pipeline operations where atrench must be formed with low soil impact disturbance and where the topsoil needs to be separated from the underlying earth. It is important tonote here, while the following description may be specific to excavatinga trench, the earth mover 10 could be used in other applicationsincluding, but not limited to, soil reclamation, stripping and mulchingpeat moss, removing top soil for sidewalks and the like, among others.

Still referring to FIGS. 1-3, the earth mover includes a chassis 12supporting a cutter 20, a stripping blade 50, a spoils collector 40 anda spoils transfer assembly 70. A wheel support assembly 90 is mounted atone end of the chassis 12 and supports the chassis 12 on wheels 120. Atan end opposite the wheel support assembly 90, the chassis 12 isprovided with a hitch 132 or the like coupling for engaging the chassisto a vehicle 130 that tows or pushes the earth mover 10. Hitch 132 canbe configured to engage the chassis to a towing ball, a hitch pin, athree-point hitch or the like of the vehicle 130. Further, the vehicle130 could be, but is not limited to, a skid steer loader, an excavator,a front loader, a bulldozer or any other suitable vehicle.

Cutter 20 is supported by the chassis 12 in a rotatably drivable fashionon axel 28 about an axis of rotation 30. Cutter 20 is attached to axel28 for conjoined rotation therewith. Opposite ends of the axel 28 arerotatably supported by bearing assemblies 27 mounted on opposite sidesof chassis 12. A drive motor 38 is operatively coupled to axel 28, forexample, by a chain drive assembly 29 for rotatably driving the axel 28and thus the cutter 20 about axis 30. The drive motor 38 could be ahydraulic motor, an electric motor or a combustion engine. One ofordinary skill in the art will appreciate the chain drive assembly 29could be substituted with any number of drive assemblies for operativelyconnecting the drive motor 38 with axel 28 to rotatably drive the axel,and should not be limited to the chain drive assembly 29 as illustrated.As a non-limiting example, the axel 28, and thus cutter 20 could bedriven by a power-takeoff of vehicle 130.

Cutter 20 is configured to form a rectilinear trench 74 when moved intoan earth engaging position where the cutter 20 is plunged into theground surface 118 and the earth mover 10 is moved along a trenchingpath. Cutter 20 comprises a cylindrical drum 22 having a circumferentialexterior surface 23. A plurality of cutting teeth 24 are interspersedacross the exterior surface 23 in a regular or irregular pattern. Asillustrated, each cutting tooth 24 is a fixed carbide tooth. However, aperson of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate the cutting teeth 24can be of any suitable excavating tooth points, and should not belimited to fixed carbide teeth.

It is preferred the axis of rotation 30 to be generally normal to atravel direction 26 of the earth mover 10 during a trenching operation.However, it is contemplated the axis of rotation 30 could be sweptforward or rearward relative to the travel direction 26.

Still referring to FIGS. 1-3, the earth mover 10 may further include acutter shield 32, which partially encloses the cutter 20 and providesprotection for an operator, or other person proximate to earth mover 10,from the cutter and/or excavating debris. In one configuration, thecutter shield 32 substantially encloses the cutter 20 except a lowerportion thereof permitting the cutter 20 to be engaged with the groundsurface 118.

The earth mover 10 may further include a pair of sleds 34, 35 onelocated on each side of the chassis 12 below a respective bearingassembly 27. Sleds 34, 35 provide a depth stop to the chassis 12 toprevent lowering the chassis into the ground surface beyond apredetermined depth that otherwise may cause damage to the earth mover10, and particularly to the bearing assembly 27. Sleds 34, 35 areconfigured to engage the ground surface along opposite sides of theearth mover 10 and an excavated trench. Sleds 34, 35 provide slidingsupport to the chassis 12 across the ground surface in the instance thechassis 12 is lowered beyond the predetermined depth. Sleds 34, 35 canbe attached to the chassis 12 in a manner such that the sleds arevertically adjustable relative to the chassis. Additionally, sleds 34,35 can be lowered to engage a ground surface to support the chassis 12of the earth mover 10 when not operating.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 6 the inclined stripping blade 50 is supportedby the chassis 12 for conjoint movement therewith. In other words, asthe chassis 12 is lowered or raised, so is the stripping blade 50.Generally, the stripping blade 50 operates to plane the spoils from theexcavated trench 74 and into the spoils collector 40. The strippingblade 50 includes a stripping edge 52 that is disposed in a followingposition 114 relative to the cutter 20, and in a trenching operation,the stripping edge 52 strips the spoils from the bottom surface of theexcavated trench. The stripped spoils are then transported along atransport surface 60 of the stripping blade 50 and into a spoilscollector 40. In an embodiment, the transport surface 60 is contiguouswith the spoils collector 40, such that the spoils are directed by thestripping blade 50 directly into the spoils collector as the earth mover10 is moved forward in a trenching operation.

With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, in an embodiment, the stripping edge 52may be removably attached to a lower portion of stripping blade 50 by abolted connection to permit replacement of a worn stripping edge 52.Further, the stripping edge 52 may be adjustably attached to thestripping blade 50 adjusted to a desired depth relative to thecircumference of the cutter 20. As illustrated, the stripping blade 50includes a plurality of parallel and spaced slots 56, and the strippingedge 52 includes an equal number of cooperatively aligned through holes55. A bolt 54 extends each slot 56 and through hole 55 pair and issecured by a nut 57, thus securing the stripping edge 52 to thestripping blade 50. The position of the stripping edge 52 can beadjusted by loosening bolts 54, repositioning stripping edge 52 bysliding bolts 54 along the slots 56, and then subsequently retighteningthe bolts 54. The stripping edge 52 can be replaced by completelyremoving the bolts 54. The stripping blade 50 and/or stripping edge 52substantially extends the entire the length of cylindrical drum 22,thereby planning the entire width of the trench excavated by the cutter.In this configuration, the spoils collector 40 receives substantiallyall of the spoils. It is contemplated, in other embodiments, thestripping blade 50 and/or stripping edge 52 may extend less than theentire length of the cylindrical drum 22 as desired. Additionally, inembodiments, the stripping blade 50 may include lips (not pictured)extending along the transport surface 60 in a direction from the cuttingedge 52 towards the spoils collector 40 to guide and retain spoils onthe transport surface to minimizing spilling back into the excavatedtrench 74.

In alternate configurations, the stripping blade 50 could be comprisedof multiple blades. In embodiments, multiple smaller blades could bestaggered to cover the same surface areas as one larger stripping blade.Alternatively, multiple blades could be placed in series, with eachblade following the previous blade, at a uniform or asymmetrical depth.

With reference to FIGS. 1 and 6, spoils collector 40 is supported bychassis 12 and is located generally rearwardly of stripping blade 50.Spoils collector 40 operates to receive and collect spoils planed bystripping blade 50 and/or stripping edge 52, and thus transported alongtransport surface 60. Spoils received by spoils collector 40 are cachedin a spoils receiving bay 71, an area of spoils collector 40 locatedbehind the stripping blade 50 and operatively configured to receive andtemporarily contain spoils awaiting transport from the conveyor 72.

Spoils collector 40 may further include a collector shield 68, whichpartially encloses spoils collector 40 such to contain the spoilsreceived from the stripping blade 50. In one configuration, thecollector shield 68 substantially encloses the spoils collector exceptfor a collector mouth 69, located at the lower portion of the spoilscollector 40 for receiving spoils from the transport surface 60.

Referring to FIG. 6, the spoils transfer assembly 70 operates to removespoils received by spoils collector 40 and deposit the spoils alongsidethe excavated trench 74 in a windrow 76. The spoils transfer assembly 70is supported by chassis 12 of the earth mover 10, and is locatedgenerally rearwardly of the spoils collector 40. Additionally, inembodiments, the spoils transfer assembly 70 further operates to mulchthe spoils as they are removed from the spoils collector 40 anddeposited.

The spoils transfer assembly 70 includes a conveyor 72, furthercomprised of a receiving end 75 and a depositing end 77. The receivingend 75 is located within the spoils collector 40, positioned such tocollect and remove the spoils contained within the spoils receiving bay71 of spoils collector 40 and deposits such spoils into windrow 76. Thespoils enter conveyor 72 at the receiving end 75 located inside ofspoils receiving bay 71, from which they are transferred to alongconveyor 72 to the depositing end 77. As illustrated, conveyor 72 isfurther comprised of a fixed section 84 and an articulated section 85,connected at an articulated joint 86. In this configuration, thearticulated section 85 may be positioned at varying angles as requiredby the job performed. In one example, the articulated section 85 may beraised when creating a deep trench, thus accommodating the amount ofspoils created.

As illustrated, the conveyor 72 further includes an elongated auger 80that is disposed within and along a trough 73. Auger 80 contains auniversal joint 82 at approximately the same location as the articulatedjoint 86 of conveyor 72, allowing auger 80 to operate as articulatedsection 85 is angularly repositioned. The auger 80 is operated totransport the spoils from the spoils collector 40 along the trough 73 todepositing end 77, and to simultaneously mulch the spoils as they aretransported along the trough 73. However, a person of ordinary skill inthe art will realize alternative conveyors can be used to relocatespoils while remaining within the scope of the invention.

Conveyor 72 may be driven by a conveyor motor 78. The conveyor motor 78could be a hydraulic motor, electric motor, or a combustion engine.Alternatively, conveyor 72 can be operatively coupled and driven bydrive motor 38.

Trough 73 encloses the sides of conveyor 72, connecting to the lowerportion of conveyor 72 and extending vertically. Inclusion of trough 73provides containment of the spoils transported by conveyor 72, preventsspillage. In an alternate configuration, trough 73 may completelyenclose conveyor 72.

With continued reference to FIGS. 2 and 3, the wheel support assembly 90rests on the ground via wheels 120, supporting earth mover 10 as itmoves in the travel direction 26. A drive axel 94 connects wheels 120,rotating within an axel sleeve 96. Right and left wheel support arms 92Aand 92B attach to axel sleeve 96 at right and left support arm hubs 93Aand 93B, respectively. Wheel support arms 92A and 92B pivot about wheelsupport pivot axis 122, further connected to the chassis 12 via supportarm braces 91.

A hydraulic cylinder 105 is connected to the axel sleeve 96 via ahydraulic hub 95. Right and left hydraulic pivot braces 98A and 98B areattached to the hydraulic hub 95, allowing a hydraulic axel 97 toconnect between the pivot braces 98A and 98B. A first end of thehydraulic cylinder 100 connects to hydraulic axel 97, allowing thehydraulic cylinder 105 to pivot about a first hydraulic axis 124.Similarly, a second end of the hydraulic cylinder 101 is connected tothe chassis 12 via right and left hydraulic braces 102A and 102B,allowing hydraulic cylinder 105 to pivot about a second hydraulic axis125. By allowing the hydraulic cylinder 105 to pivot about first andsecond hydraulic axes 124 and 125, the hydraulic system is able toadjust the trenching height of earth mover 10 by adjusting the length ofwhich hydraulic piston extends from hydraulic cylinder 105.

In another embodiment, earth mover 10 could be self-propelled by anengine, drivetrain, and/or other required machinery known in the art,operatively attached to drive connector 18 of chassis 12. Theself-propelling machinery would be composed of an internal combustion,electric, or other machine.

In operation, earth mover 10 is capable of trenching and formingpipeline right-of-ways in areas where low impact soil disturbance isrequired. Earth mover 10 can remove topsoil, clay, frozen ground, rock,or other earth compositions from below the ground surface 118.Additionally, earth mover 10 is capable of performing all requiredprocesses necessary to move the earth in one pass. First, earth mover 10breaks up the earth at the cutter 20, creating spoils ready forcollection. Second, earth mover 10 collects the loosened spoils via thestripping blade 50. Third, earth mover 10 relocates the collected spoilsto a convenient position within the spoils collector 40. Finally, thespoils transfer assembly 70 removes the spoils from the spoils collector40, creating a windrow 76 of spoils.

Earth mover 10 can be set to ground engaging or non-ground engagingpositions 110 and 112, respectively. During transportation or storage,earth mover 10 will generally be in the non-ground engaging position112. Alternately, earth mover 10 will be in the ground engaging position110 while creating trenches and moving earth. Since the height of cutter20 is adjustable, earth mover 10 can be easily transported to and fromdifferent jobs. By altering the hydraulics on wheel support assembly 90,the operator can raise the cutter assembly 20 from the ground engagingposition 110 to a sufficiently elevated non-ground engaging position112, such that earth mover 10 may be safely pushed or pulled to a newlocation.

From the non-earth engaging position 112, an operator initiates theapparatus by starting rotation of cutter's 20 cylindrical drum 22 to aspeed sufficient to loosen the earth desired, such as 1000 RPM. At thistime, the operator will also initiate conveyor 72 to allow therelocation of spoils to a convenient windrow 76. After initializing, theoperator enters the ground engaging position 110 by lowering the cutter20 to the desired cutting depth.

In the first stage of the trenching process 111, cutter assembly 20engages the ground surface 118. The cutting teeth 24 of cutter 20 breakup the earth as earth mover 10 moves forward in the travel direction 26.The operator may select which layers of earth (topsoil, subsoil, clay,etc.) he or she desires to remove by adjusting the cutting depth, viathe hydraulics on the wheel support assembly 90.

Once the earth has been broken into spoils by cutter 20, the spoilsencounter stripping blade 50. The stripping edge 52 of the strippingblade 50 planes the newly loosened spoils from the bottom of the trench74. These spoils move up the inclined transport surface 60 of thestripping blade 50. Although the cutter 20 propels some spoils up thetransport surface 60 through its rotating momentum, most spoils aretaken by the stripping blade 50 as earth mover 10 travels forward in thetravel direction 26. The force the newly loosened spoils push theremaining spoils across the transport surface 60

Next, spoils are received by the spoils collector 40, where they gatherin the spoils receiving bay 71. The spoils remain here temporarily,until they are removed by conveyor 72 of the spoils transfer assembly 70and dropped into a windrow 76. Additionally, spoils removal by thespoils transfer assembly 70 prevents clogging of the spoils collector 40that could be caused by to excessive spoils in the spoils receiving bay71.

If the operator desires to refill a trench 74 with the spoils of apreviously formed windrow 76, he or she would simply drive earth mover10 over windrow 76. Stripping blade 50 would receive the alreadyloosened spoils, delivering the spoils to spoils collector 40. Since thedistance between the windrow 76 and the trench 74 would be unchanged,earth mover 10 effectively relocates the spoils from the windrow 76 backinto the trench 74.

A number of embodiments of the present invention have been described.Nevertheless, it will be understood that various modifications may bemade without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.Accordingly, other embodiments are within the scope of the followingclaims.

1-6. (canceled)
 7. An earth mover for earth working, comprising: achassis having a hitching assembly; a cutter supported by said chassisin a rotatably drivable fashion about a cutter axis of rotation that isfixed relative to said chassis, said cutter configured to form arectilinear trench in an earth during a trenching process; a wheelsupport assembly having a lateral axis and laterally spaced wheels, saidwheel support assembly attached to said chassis for rotation about saidlateral axis to raise and lower said wheels relative to said chassis,said wheels providing ground support to said chassis, wherein raisingsaid wheels causes said chassis to be positioned in a ground engagingposition where said cutter is engaged with the earth, and whereinlowering said wheels causes said chassis to be positioned in anon-ground engaging position where said cutter is free of engagementwith the earth; a spoils collector supported by said chassis, saidspoils collector having a receiving bay into which spoils are depositedand retained; a stripping blade having a stripping edge disposed at afollowing position relative to said cutter and having a transportsurface contiguous with said spoils collector, wherein spoils cut bysaid cutter during a trenching process are transported along saidtransport surface and into said receiving bay of said spoils collector;and a spoils transfer assembly supported by said chassis, said spoilstransfer assembly comprising a conveyor configured to remove spoilsdeposited in said receiving bay of said spoils collector and to depositthe removed spoils along the side of a trench formed during thetrenching process.
 8. The earth mover of claim 7, wherein said spoilscollector has a collector shield that encloses the spoils collector,said collector shield having a collector mouth located to receive spoilstherethrough and into the spoils collector.
 9. The earth mover of claim7, wherein said stripping blade is supported by said chassis forconjoined movement therewith between the ground engaging and non-groundengaging positions.
 10. The earth mover of claim 7, wherein saidstripping blade is supported by said chassis.
 11. The earth mover ofclaim 7, wherein said conveyor is an auger.
 12. The earth mover of claim7, wherein said stripping edge extends substantially the length of saidcutter.
 13. The earth mover of claim 7, further comprising: a hydrauliccylinder; said wheel support further having a drive axel rotatingdisposed within an axel sleeve, said wheels attached to opposite ends ofsaid drive axel, said axel sleeve pivotally attached to said chassis bya pair of support arms attached to and extending between said chassisand said axel sleeve; and said hydraulic cylinder attached to saidchassis at one end thereof and to said axel sleeve at an opposite endthereof, said hydraulic cylinder operable to rotate said wheel supportassembly about said lateral axis.